Shop Till You Drop

I am a glutton for punishment. I had to take Mary to the eye doctor again today, so I asked Anna and Mom if they wanted to go to the grocery with us afterwards. When I asked Mary what she thought about the idea, she replied that it would be out of the way to go pick them up (they don’t live near each other), so maybe we should just forget it. But you know what? What else do we have but time? That Anna and Mom were out of our way was a pretty lame excuse not to invite them. And you know what else? That was the way Mary always was—taking the path of least resistance. The one that would insure her the least emotional risk. Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I’ve got it all wrong. I used to kind of think I had a mission here. I was going to help Mary learn how to be generous and get her to interact with the family. Then at some point it occurred to my arrogant little self that maybe I was the one who was supposed to be learning some things. Well, I guess both of us are.

So we went out to Aldi’s. It’s rather far away, so it’s oddly like a special treat for us. Plus, it’s a German store, so it’s really special for me. Although, you know what—now that I start thinking about it, Aldi really isn’t a treat to shop at. Like any store in German is! The same things that stressed me out at Aldi’s in Germany stressed me out here! Searching for a quarter (Deutschmark), the uncertainty about an unknown product brand, the long checkout line, having to load stuff back into the cart as soon as it was rung up, not getting bags for free, having to pack your own groceries. I got used to all that there, but it kind of hit me like a brick today—especially with the added stress of Mom and Anna (Mary stayed in the car.), who are pretty easily confused about things. But…they do have great German coffee and pretty good chocolate and…there is a bit of special nostalgia…

After that experience, we headed over to the Kroger across the way. I made Mary go inside with us. I hate leaving her out in the car. For one thing, I never feel certain that she’ll stay there. Not that she’s ever gotten out, but there’s a first time for everything. Or she might get cold. Or someone might accost her (although I do make sure that she locks the door and almost always get her to unlock it so that she gets some practice so that it might stick). Plus, I think it’s good that she gets involved. But, boy, she’d only had one cup of coffee and that appointment had been early for her, so she was really dragging. Mom and Anna had to look at everything—just like at Aldi’s. I thought I was bad. Now I know where I get it—it’s in my genes. It’s the Grocery Shopping Gene. Mom did my checkout for me—I could tell she was loving every minute of it. Some of her brothers had a grocery store, so maybe that’s it, but in any case, she’s got this fascination with grocery stores. Hm. I don’t know. I understand completely. There’s something about the fact that it’s mostly food, for one thing, which is cool, but then also that the products say so much about people. It’s like a sociological study.

I spent way too much. I always do. I feel so guilty for that, since it’s Mary’s money. But it’s not like she didn’t spend whatever she wanted to on herself before I came along and it’s also not like she doesn’t enjoy most of what I get, and she tells me to get what I want. And how often have I brought food home from Lexington on the weekends. Well, this is one thing I am just not going to think about right now. There are really other things I need to worry about. Like why her financial advisor has never called me back. It’s been a month. Really not very professional. And I so dread having to talk to him! Why is he making it more difficult?!